Tech tools for quick responses

For teachers who are using either Chromebooks or all-class student devices, there are some easy-to-use tools that allow you to gauge the level of understanding in the room, solicit student responses anonymously, and create engaging quick quizzes, exit tickets and more.

GoSoapBox -- http://www.gosoapbox.com/  
GoSoapBox is a web-based clicker tool. Students can interact anonymously, but the teacher can see who said what. It features polls and quizzes, but also a “confusion barometer” to quickly take the pulse of the room. It is limited to 30 students per class (free version) so it may not accept all student participation but it is definitely worth some experimentation.



Socrative -- http://www.socrative.com/

Socrative is similar to GoSoapBox and Kahoot in offering quizzes and quick discussion questions. This used to be very geared toward iPad programs but has become much easier to use with Chromebooks, phones and other devices. You can see live results of student response or have them compete against each other with a Space Race. You can prepare quizzes, questions and materials ahead of time, but there’s also an Exit Ticket feature (which asks how well did you understand the subject, what you learned and a place to “answer the teacher’s question”) that can be used on the fly. 

Formative -- https://goformative.com/

This is a really flexible and interesting tool that allows a variety of responses, including “show your work” with drawing feature, and the ability to embed text, video, images and your own “whiteboard”. You can see a live view of student responses and quickly modify questions or response mechanisms. You can create classes to keep groups organized or just use it without preparation. .

AnswerGarden (https://answergarden.ch/) is another flexible tool that allows anonymous short answers to quick questions and creates a word cloud where the most frequently submitted words or phrases are the largest. A quick and easy way to gauge pre-knowledge or focus on review topics.

Try one of these tools in your classroom!